Match-up event set for start-ups, investors

TAIPEI--A match-making event is scheduled to take place in Taipei next week to help 25 selected local start-ups find investors, the organizers said Saturday.

Taiwan has been encouraging young people to start businesses amid the rapidly changing business environment. To date, 13 government agencies have launched several support programs, improving the sharing of resources and removing barriers to business start-ups.

As part of the government support project, the third half-year echelon incubation program, which was open for registration in late January, will culminate in the match-making event June 10, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Twenty-five out of 40 start-ups will have a chance to pitch their ideas and present their preliminary concepts, vying for attention from several investors and industrial representatives, the ministry said in a statement.

Government support programs include providing preferential business loans for young people. An estimated NT$3 billion (US$99.7 million) will be invested in these programs over three years.

Among the programs, a "business angel" project was formally activated Dec. 16, 2013 and an estimated NT$1 billion will be invested over five years to help 60 enterprises each year to set up businesses, rising to 300 companies in five years.

The Economics Ministry also introduced a program in January offering NT$18 million in loans for young people to start their own businesses.